


Figuring Our Shit Out

by brionylarkin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, No Incest, Not Season/Series 02 Compliant, Post-Season/Series 01, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25562977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brionylarkin/pseuds/brionylarkin
Summary: Klaus and Ben are best friends. For some reason, that confuses people.ORThirteen again, the Hargreeves siblings take advantage of their father's absence to reconnect and cause some chaos. Along the way, they have some heart-to-hearts.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves
Comments: 47
Kudos: 1112





	Figuring Our Shit Out

**Author's Note:**

> You may notice I changed the title from 'figuring YOUR shit out' to 'figuring OUR shit out'. This shit is collective.

The strangest part of being thrown back in time, of being thirteen again (other than, you know,  _ being thirteen again _ ), is undoubtedly Ben being alive. Every time Ben follows Klaus into a room, Allison has to stifle a gasp. When he sits down in his seat during meals, Luther has to stop himself from jumping up. Even Vanya, who otherwise keeps mostly to herself, has been known to give Ben random hugs.

It stems from them having lost Ben over a decade ago. To them, he’ll always be that eighteen year old tragedy. Their Ben was quiet and intelligent and never wrong, when he dared to share his opinion. He was Five’s favorite brother and the only sibling who would regularly invite Vanya to hang out. Diego and Allison, two siblings rarely seen together, would help Ben calm down after a long training session, when he would desperately need it. Luther helped wash the blood off Ben’s face after missions. 

His death was violent and bloody and horrible and for a long time afterward, his siblings could only think of him as that victim. They could only picture him as he’d looked while Grace tried to save him. After he died, they idealized him. Vanya gave him credit for holding the family together and didn’t have a bad word to say about him in her book.

And they moved on, which is why it’s so shocking to watch Klaus and Ben interact now. 

~~~~~~~~~~

There’s giggling coming from Klaus’s room. Vanya cocks her head, straining her ears while not allowing herself to focus too hard on the singular noise. It’s definitely laughter. 

She’d been playing violin for a few hours now, taking advantage of Reginald being out of the house to play as loud and long as she wants with the door open. 

Allison drifted by earlier, waving a quick hello before darting into Luther’s room. Vanya even saw Diego on his way downstairs. 

As it is, she can’t remember the last time she heard actual childish giggling from one of her siblings, so this bears investigating. (If, at the back of her mind, she immediately worries that Klaus has relapsed, she doesn’t have to admit to anything.)

Vanya places her violin gently on her bed and pads into the hallway and next door. Outside Klaus’s room, she pauses, fist raised to knock. Is she even welcome? Will Klaus be annoyed to see her? Before she can psych herself out too much, Vanya forces herself to knock. 

The door opens within a heartbeat and it’s… Ben. 

“Hi, Vanya,” he practically whispers, sending her a conspiratorial smile. He looks up and down the hallway, relaxing when he doesn’t see anyone else. “What’s up?”

Before she can answer, Klaus yells from inside. “Is that Vanya? Just let her in! She’s not a buzzkill like everyone else.” Ben snickers at Vanya’s half confused, half pleased expression and motions her in. 

The room is dark, only slightly lit up by the fairy lights strung on the ceiling. It’s also fairly breezy, due to the two open windows Vanya can see across the room. The reasoning behind this becomes clear as soon as Vanya glimpses the smoke collecting on the ceiling. 

“Guys, is that..?” she starts, disappointment clear in her voice.

“It’s just pot, Vanya,” Klaus says, clearly waving her off even if she can’t see him. 

There’s a blanket stretched over his bed and a nearby chair, creating a makeshift fort. Klaus crawls out of it with a gleeful grin on his face. He’s holding a lit joint that he quickly passes to Ben so he can stand up. 

Vanya’s even more surprised when Ben takes a quick hit from it. 

“Ben!” she protests, more outraged about Klaus being involved than the actual drugs. “I thought we agreed..” She trails off, sending Klaus some heavy side eye.

Ben rolls his eyes. “It really is  _ just  _ pot, Vanya. I promise this was never Klaus’s problem. He’ll be fine.”

“See!” Klaus gestures violently to Ben. “Ben agrees with me! It’s fine to do drugs!”

“This particular drug, Klaus,” Ben corrects him, though he just seems fond. He flops down on Klaus’s bed, dislodging the blanket and quickly collapsing the whole fort.

“Oh, no,” he says morosely, staring down at the remains. Smoke trails around his head, joining the rest on the ceiling. 

“Ben,” Klaus whines. “That’s the third time today.” He sits down on the floor with a pout. 

“How long have you guys been at this?” Vanya asks, hiding a smile as she plops down in front of Klaus.

He perks up and grabs her hand with a stupid grin. She lets him, smiling back even as he ignores her question to lay down on the floor next to her.

“Only about an hour,” Ben says from the bed. He frowns down at them and lets himself slide onto the floor. 

“We’re celebrating!” Klaus gleefully exclaims, tugging on Ben’s arm. Ben lets himself be pulled until he’s laying practically on top of his brother, where he settles with a resigned huff.

“Klaus has been making a lot of progress with his powers,” Ben clarifies, crossing his arms to get more comfortable. “He’s earned a break.”

“So, Ben got me pot!” Klaus says into the carpet. “He’s the best brother! Don’t tell Diego.”

Vanya can practically feel her eyes bug out of her skull. “ _ Ben _ bought you pot?”

“Oh,” Klaus says quietly. “Sorry, Ben.” 

Ben gives Vanya a hard stare. “I know where to get drugs thanks to following this one around for so long.” He pats Klaus’s head. “And I wasn’t about to let my ex-addict little brother go into an alley where he could buy anything.”

“I’m older than you,” Klaus mumbles sulkily. “Ben?” He blinks big wet eyes at his brother. “The weed is hitting me hard.” 

“I know, Klaus.” Ben runs a hand through Klaus’s hair and Klaus leans into it like a cat. “You forgot you were thirteen, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Vanya watches this display, considers her options, and finally asks. “Can I see the joint?” Ben eyes her, confused, but hands it over. Beneath him, Klaus whines about her putting it out.

Instead, she takes a quick puff, trying hard to resist the urge to cough.

“Vanya!” Klaus exclaims, scandalized but smiling.

“What?” Vanya says defensively, letting out a tiny cough as her body reminds her it’s never smoked before. “I went to college.”

“Our sister, the stoner,” Ben says theatrically, causing Klaus to collapse into giggles.

Vanya allows herself, just for a moment, to bask in sibling closeness. This could never have happened when they were actually thirteen, but maybe they can make up for lost time now. 

~~~~~~~

When they were real children, Diego was quiet. Part of that was his stutter tripping him up every other word, but most of it was just how he was. He didn’t like to read like Ben did, so he spent most of his time outside of training with Grace. 

It took him nearly thirty years to realize that his siblings deserve better than that from him.

He’s walking through the southeastern hallway, enjoying the rare quiet. There’s sunshine streaming through the windows to his left and his socked feet are padding softly on the carpet. Diego takes a moment to just wiggle his toes, never normally being allowed outside his room without shoes. He idly considers heading down to the kitchen.

Diego’s just rounding a corner when he’s suddenly yanked into a nearby doorway. He nearly shouts, reaching for a knife when the person registers. 

It’s Ben, raising a finger to his mischievous grin. He takes a peek out into the hallway to make sure the coast is clear. 

“Diego,” he whispers, and Diego finds himself leaning in. “We’re going to prank Klaus.”

“What?” Diego screws up his face. “What for? Did he do something to you?” That’s the only reason he could imagine Ben wanting to antagonize someone.

“Not recently,” Ben waves away the thought. “We tried to start a prank war a few years ago, but not being able to really touch things takes the fun out of it.”

Blinking hard to push away the memory of Ben’s death, Diego responds. “So… why do you want to prank him?”

Ben sighs. “It’s kind of nice to be a kid again. You’ve noticed it, haven’t you?” He nudges Diego’s arm. “How easy it is to fall back into childish behavior?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess,” Diego admits reluctantly. “I mean, I get mad easier. Luther and Allison have been really giggly.”

Ben snorts. “Yeah, they’re fucking annoying.” Diego has to choke down a laugh at the sound of Ben swearing. It just sounds so out of place. 

“But,  _ anyway _ , Klaus has been really weird about the whole regression thing,” Ben says, rolling his eyes. “He thinks no one’ll take him seriously if he has fun in front of everyone or something, I don’t know. But, the prank should loosen him up a bit and let him retaliate for a reason.”

Diego stares, blindsided by Ben’s clear, planned-out analysis. “And, uh,” he clears his throat. “If Klaus doesn’t take the bait?”

“Take what bait?” Klaus pops up in the doorway.

“Jesus!” Diego cries, flailing and nearly stabbing his brother in the face. “Klaus, what the fuck!”

“Klauuuss,” Ben honest-to-god  _ whines _ , even as Klaus comes closer to put his arm around him. “You ruined my perfect plan!” 

“None of your plans are ever perfect, Benji,” Klaus chirps, poking a pouting Ben’s nose. Ben just crosses his arms in a huff. 

“This one was!” he says, turning his head pointedly away from the boy hanging off of him like a limpet. “Or it would’ve been if you hadn’t interrupted.”

Klaus just sends Ben an incredulous look. “Two words, dumbass. Rosebud Motel.” 

Ben is turning bright red and squirming away before Klaus has even finished the sentence. “Bye, guys, I’ll see you later!” he squeaks and practically sprints down the hallway. 

Diego blinks after him, slightly whiplashed, while Klaus doubles over, absolutely cackling like the Disney villain he apparently is. 

“The hell is the Rosebud Motel?” Diego asks, turning to Klaus with eyebrows raised. “Are you blackmailing Ben?”

“What? No!” Klaus says with a wry grin. “Why do you always jump to the weirdest conclusions? Well,” he pauses for a moment, “it’s not  _ blackmail _ , per say. Just… some information Ben doesn’t want the rest of you to know.”

“That’s exactly what blackmail is, dumbass!” Diego slaps the back of Klaus’s head. “Don’t fuck with Ben.”

“Oh, chill out, Diego!” Klaus whines, rubbing his head. He stumbles backwards into the hallway to avoid another swat. “It’s all in good fun. If Ben wanted me to stop, I’d stop.”

Diego just narrows his eyes suspiciously until Klaus begins to squirm. 

“Stop looking at me like that!” Klaus says, crossing his arms. “This is 100% bullying. Just ‘cause we never got that talk doesn’t mean I don’t know what it looks like.” He glares at Diego and stomps off the same direction as Ben. 

Diego just rolls his eyes, chalking the whole situation up to Klaus’s general overdramatic self and completely forgets about it. 

Until, that is, Ben corners him in the kitchen after dinner. 

“What did you say to Klaus?” Ben practically hisses, and for a moment, Diego understands why the criminals who recognize them run from Ben.

“What?” Diego practically stutters, his young body still not used to speaking clearly. He blinks and Ben is just Ben again—sending him a death glare, but not about to kill him.

“You said something to Klaus after I left,” Ben continues, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “And he’s been quiet since. Before dinner, he asked me if he was  _ bothering me _ .” Ben scoffed.

“Well,” Diego hesitates, not quite seeing the problem. So what if he forced Klaus to realize he’s annoying Ben? “Is he?”

Ben sighs explosively. “No! He’s my best friend. He doesn’t bother me!”

“What?” Diego looks at Ben incredulously. “Ben, we’re all friends. That doesn’t mean we don’t piss each other off occasionally! And I love Klaus but god knows he can be annoying sometimes.”

Ben takes a step back, allowing Diego to relax his tense shoulders. “I feel like you guys don’t get it.”

“What?”

“Diego.” Ben rubs his temples, reminiscent of how he used to calm himself down after a mission when they were real kids. “Klaus didn’t summon me for the first time during that fight in the theater before we came here. I’ve been with him the  _ whole time _ .” 

“Wait,” Diego says. “You mean..?” 

“Yes,” Ben sighs. “I’ve been with Klaus for almost thirteen years. There’s nothing he can do at this point that would bother me.”

“Oh,” Diego says in a quiet voice. There’s a long moment of silence. “I’m sorry.”

“Apologize to Klaus, not me,” Ben says, but his tone has softened.

Someone calls their names from upstairs and they both simultaneously remember the movie night they have planned. 

“We should probably…” Ben gestures toward the stairs and Diego nods. They turn to leave the kitchen and head up. 

They’re about halfway up the stairs when Diego breaks the awkward silence.

“So, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen Klaus do?”

Ben snorts. “You don’t wanna know.” He sends a sly glance Diego’s way. “I’ve seen him naked too many times.”

“Ugh, gross, man!” Diego lightly shoves Ben as they reach the hallway. Ben stumbles, laughing.

“Well, how do you think I feel?!” he says, lunging back at Diego. Diego dodges and runs down the hallway, Ben close behind, both of them laughing like maniacs.

They burst into the attic, startling Luther and Allison from where they’re setting up the TV. Ben tackles Diego to the floor and they roll towards the TV, shouting.

“Hey!” Allison shouts, indignant, as they narrowly avoid hitting her. She jumps to her feet with a battle cry and tackles both her brothers. Luther just moves back, wide-eyed. 

Five and Vanya come through the door, holding bowls of popcorn. They’re faced with Allison pinning Diego down on the floor, holding Ben back by his face, all three of them yelling.

Vanya laughs and even Five cracks a smile. They sit down a safe distance from the scuffle and the smell of the freshly popped popcorn is enough to break up their siblings. 

By the time Klaus arrives, everyone is settled down on the floor in front of the television, and he has just enough time to squeeze down between Ben and Diego before the opening credits are playing. 

“Hey, man,” Diego whispers to Klaus halfway through the movie. His other siblings have been talking amongst themselves the whole time so he figures this is as private as it can be.

Klaus turns to him, taking the fingernail he was chewing out of his mouth. “Yeah?”

“Sorry about that stuff I said earlier,” Diego says, forcing himself to meet his brother’s eyes. “You aren’t being annoying or mean to Ben. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay,” Klaus says, shrugging in that self-deprecating way that means he’s going to be internalizing whatever criticism is being sent his way. “I know I’m a bit much sometimes.”

“No, you’re not,” Diego says forcefully. “Hey.” He grabs Klaus’s shoulder and tugs him until he’s looking at Diego again. “You’re not too much. You’re not annoying. Stop letting us get away with saying shitty things to you.”

Klaus gives Diego a strained smile and turns back to the movie. Diego takes his cue to drop the subject. 

The conversation could have gone better, but Klaus falls asleep on Diego’s shoulder an hour later, so Diego figures they’re as good as they can be. 

~~~~~~~

Allison has always felt disconnected from her siblings. At first, it was simply that she was the only girl with powers. Then she started being seen as the Academy’s darling, and then it was acting, and then she was moving to LA, and then she was famous. Suddenly, she hadn’t spoken to her family in over a decade. She has no excuses.

But the point is that she has even more trouble connecting with her siblings now that they’re adults pretending to be thirteen. She can’t get Vanya drunk, which is the only time in recent memory they’ve gotten along. She can’t bail Klaus out of jail, or watch one of Diego’s matches (apparently he boxes? Or he did, anyway), or use any of the other ideas that revolve around them being adults. 

(She doesn’t mention the distinct  _ lack  _ of ideas when it comes to Five or Ben. She has excuses for them, right?)

So, Allison lets herself slip back into childish habits. She and Luther chase each other around the halls and have long talks over the kitchen table. It’s too easy. There’s part of her that wonders; if she stops thinking about it, would she repeat the same actions as the first time around? 

The thought scares her, so Allison makes an effort to be different. She invites Vanya to a makeover night, but her sister just looks at her weird and tells her to ask Klaus instead. She tries to spar with Diego, thinking he’d enjoy the fighting aspect, but he snorts and says he’s busy. She even tries to sit in the library with Ben, but fifteen minutes into the conversation, Klaus sticks his head in and calls Ben away. 

She has to admit she’s getting frustrated, so she follows Klaus and Ben into the kitchen. 

“What’re you guys doing?” she asks, genuinely curious as to what her two most different siblings could be doing together.

Klaus jumps and theatrically grabs his chest. “Allison, you scared me!” 

Allison giggles despite herself. “Yeah, I can see that.” She crosses the room to where her brothers are sitting at the kitchen table, a bunch of papers spread out in front of them. Allison picks up a pamphlet, surprised to find herself holding a bus schedule. She sends them both a quizzical look. 

Klaus leans back casually in his chair, elbowing Ben. “This is your idea, Benny babes, you tell her.”

Allison’s shocked to see Ben fidgeting in his seat, the action seeming so foreign. 

“Well…” he trails off and punches Klaus’s shoulder. “You’re a dick.” He addresses Allison again. “Reginald extended his trip another week, right?”

Allison blinks. “He did?”

Ben groans and turns to Klaus. “You didn’t tell anyone else, did you?” 

Klaus holds his hands up in innocence. “I didn’t think of it!”

“Wait, how do  _ you  _ know?” Allison says, crossing her arms. “This isn’t a joke, is it?”

“No,” Klaus says, rolling his eyes and leaning forwards again. “He told Mom over the phone this morning. A ghost I’m trying to be friendly with overheard them.” 

“O...kay?” Allison says. “What does this have to do with a bus schedule?” She holds it up again. 

“Don’t tell the others!” Ben says, surprisingly earnest. “If everyone tries to get involved in planning, we’re all gonna end up fighting and no one will get to go.” 

“Go where?” Allison says.

“The beach!” Klaus exclaims, beaming and holding up a flyer. “With a boardwalk! It’s gonna be so great.”

Allison’s eyes widen. “How’re you gonna get Mom and Pogo to let us?”

Klaus waves off her concerns. “Pogo, schmogo.” 

“It’s not like they can stop us,” Ben admits with a bit more seriousness. “Also, if all goes according to plan, it’s unlikely they’ll actually miss us.”

When Allison still looks unsure, Klaus gestures for her to sit down. “Let us explain.”

Half an hour later, even Allison has to admit it’s a good plan. It helps that—

“We’ve been there before!” Klaus announces gleefully as they lay out the plan to the rest of their siblings. “We were twenty-three, I was mostly sober, and Ben almost got lost at sea.”

“I did not,” Ben says without looking at Klaus. 

Klaus makes a ‘hmm’ noise and pats Ben on the shoulder. “It was pretty close, buddy.” 

“I was a ghost. How would I have gotten lost at sea? I could’ve just appeared back with you,” says Ben. 

“Not if you got eaten by a shark,” Klaus says seriously, before his eyes light up. “A ghost shark! Oh, that’d be so cool.”

Ben rolls his eyes fondly. “If animals could be ghosts, there’d be way more ghosts. You know that, right?” 

“We’re getting off topic,” Allison interrupts. “Dad’s gonna be gone another week. Pogo and Mom are gonna be busy tomorrow. I think we need this.”

“I don’t know, Allison,” Luther says, causing Diego to groan next to him. “I don’t think we need to be sneaking out to the beach of all things.”

“Oh, live a little, Luther!” Klaus exclaims, jumping to his feet. “This is a good idea. You’re just mad you didn’t come up with it first.”

Luther puffs up in irritation. “Well, as Number One—”

“Shut up, Luther,” everyone choruses together. Luther sends Allison a betrayed look.

“I mean, if we’re supposed to be getting closer with each other,” Vanya says quietly, eyes fixed on the ground. “A group trip to the beach sounds about right.” Allison nods at her encouragingly and Vanya continues. “It’s also summer.”

“Five?” Allison says, prompting their brother to look up from the notebook he was furiously scribbling in. “What do you think?”

“Well, it shouldn’t be a problem, timeline-wise,” Five replies, rubbing his chin. “It’s a small enough change. Speaking of,” he pauses, jotting something down. “Dad didn’t extend this trip last time around, did he? Why is he doing it now?”

“Did Dad even take a trip last time?” Allison asks. “I honestly don’t remember.”

“Is that important?” says Diego. He pulls Five’s notebook away from him, ignoring his brother’s angry bristling. “I mean, we can’t control  _ everything _ .”

Five snatches his notebook back and glares at Diego. “Anything could’ve made him extend the trip. And,” he sighs. “As much as I hate to admit it, Diego is right. We can’t control everything.”

Diego lets out a celebratory “Ha!” that goes ignored.

“Soo…” Klaus draws out the ‘o’ sound until Ben elbows him. “Beach time?”

Five rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I guess.”

Klaus throws his arms around Ben’s shoulders, crowing in excitement. Ben squirms away from the hug, but he’s laughing too. 

Next to them, Vanya is smiling and Five has a smug look on his face, the bastard. Luther still looks pouty, but Allison knows from experience that he’ll get over it. Even Diego seems interested as he flips through one of the travel pamphlets they got at the bus station. 

Allison finds herself giggling and covers her mouth with the back of her hand, gesture looking strangely elegant on her thirteen year old body. Even as she crosses to sit on the couch next to Luther, Allison wishes their original childhood was as carefree as they seem now. 

~~~~~~~~

When Luther thinks about his life, it’s in sections. There’s Training, there’s the Academy, and there’s the Moon. There are very clearly defined, and easy to differentiate divisions between each part of Luther’s life. This makes it easy to consider his own experiences, but very difficult to examine anyone else’s, including those of his siblings.

His father takes up too much space. Luther doesn’t know how to look at his life without Reginald overshadowing every aspect of it. 

Now that they’re in the past, in the safety of his childhood, Luther is being given precious time to reflect. And he’s finding he doesn’t like what he sees. 

As all seven discreetly pack that night, Luther finds himself attempting to herd his siblings into some form of order. If it isn’t Diego desperately searching for his swim trunks, it’s Allison yelling at Klaus to stay out of her closet, or Five communicating solely in loud sarcastic comments. 

The only ones Luther doesn’t have a problem with are Ben and Vanya. Ben escapes Luther’s wrath because he’s trying to deal with Klaus, and Vanya because she’s quietly locked herself in her room. 

At one point, Luther darts into Allison’s room to avoid Pogo as he walks up the closest set of stairs. 

Allison looks up from her magazine when Luther closes the door behind him. Next to her is a small backpack, stuffed with everything she could possibly need for a day trip to the beach.

“At least someone is done,” Luther says with a slight smile. He leans back against the door and nods to her bag when Allison looks confused. “Packing.”

“Oh,” Allison says, closing her magazine and moving to the top of her bed. Luther follows her unspoken request and sits down, crossing his legs and facing her. 

“I’m surprised that, uh, Ben offered to deal with Klaus,” Luther offers, only stuttering a little over Ben’s name. “But it makes it easier for me.”

Surprisingly, Allison doesn’t immediately begin to commiserate with him. Instead, she sends him a furrowed brow and confused head tilt. “Huh?”

“Should I not have left Ben in charge of Klaus?” Luther says, slightly alarmed. “You’re right. That’s not his job.” He moves to stand up, but Allison pulls him back with an amused laugh. 

“No, Luther,” she says. “I just don’t think it’s a problem for Ben. He and Klaus… they seem really close now.”

Down the hall, something crashes. They wince when Klaus’s loud shrieking follows, but he seems to be laughing so both ignore it. 

“Oh,” Luther says, feeling very small all of the sudden. “Do you think it has something to do with the ghost thing?” 

Allison rolls her eyes. “I don’t see what else it would have to do with.”

“Oh,” Luther repeats himself. They fall into a comfortable silence as Allison picks at a thread on her comforter and Luther thinks of what to say. 

Klaus’s voice sinks to a distant murmur. 

“They planned this trip together, you know,” Allison offers. “I helped a bit towards the end, but Ben seems to really trust Klaus’s opinion, no matter how stupid it is.”

“And it can be pretty stupid,” Luther says, nearly automatically. 

Allison laughs quietly. “Yeah, but you know Klaus. He likes to make us laugh.”

Luther quickly agrees and excuses himself to go pack, ignoring the fact that he finished at least an hour ago. As he closes Allison’s door behind him, he hears loud laughter coming from Vanya’s room. 

No matter how much time Luther spends with his sister, he will never expect her to be loud, so the sound warrants investigation. He walks down the hallway and stops in the open doorway.

Inside, Klaus and Ben sit side-by-side on Vanya’s bed, seemingly trying to delay her packing as much as possible. As Luther watches, Klaus jumps to his feet and pulls open Vanya’s dresser drawer.

“Klaus, it’s only for a day!” Vanya exclaims, laughter in her voice as Klaus digs through her clothes. “I just need a change of clothes and a towel.” She leans over Klaus to push her drawer closed, but he blocks her. She smacks his shoulder.

“Ah, but it must be the  _ perfect  _ change of clothes!” Klaus argues back playfully as he falls back to lay on the ground. Ben laughs at them both, but Luther is already walking away. He passes Diego, his brother moving to join the others in Vanya’s room. 

Luther can hear Diego’s deeper voice add to the argument even as he closes his bedroom door. He sits down on his bed in his empty room next to his neatly back backpack and looks at his hands.

He can’t remember ever seeing Vanya or Ben laugh like that before. He remembers Allison’s words. Luther has never looked at Klaus with anything more generous than mild annoyance. If his brother really did just want to make them laugh, why didn’t Luther see it before?

Except that… yes, he did. Vaguely, he can recall laughing himself sick over everything his brother did when they were very young. When did he stop seeing Klaus as funny, and start seeing him as a problem?

The fact that he doesn’t know is startling. So, yeah. Luther needs to rethink how he interacts with his siblings. 

Klaus seems like a good place to start.

~~~~~~~~

If Five had to pick a word to describe himself while in the Apocalypse, he would’ve said ‘survivor’. During his time as an assassin, he’d pick ‘pragmatic’. Nowadays, he just says ‘long-suffering’.

For forty-five years, Five fantasized about seeing his family again. Even when he forgot how their voices sound, or what their faces look like, he still missed them so much it hurt. They were his light at the end of a tunnel. It’s more than amazing to see them again. 

But being thirteen is not good for Five. It’s not great for any of them, not really. It’s hard to remember that people see you as a child, and harder still to act the way Reginald expects them to. Missions are difficult and tempers run high sometimes, but ultimately everyone is making progress in connecting with each other and training their abilities.

But Five. Five is struggling. Some days, he wakes up and can’t be completely sure it wasn’t all some elaborate dream. He finds himself talking out loud to Dolores, despite the fact that she probably doesn’t exist yet. More than once, Grace has caught him stealing food to hide in his room, a leftover from the Apocalypse. Basically, the last thing he’s worried about is his siblings’ changing dynamics. 

They pile onto a bus early in the morning after making their grand escape (it involved a disruptive breakfast, a quick rumor, and some whipped cream, so… best not to ask). All seven are carrying a small backpack and trying very hard to blend in while wearing school uniforms.

“We should’ve just worn our bathing suits,” Klaus hisses to Ben, from where both sit in front of Five. “It would’ve been less noticeable.”

“You try arguing with Luther about it,” Ben mutters back. He rolls his eyes, elbowing Klaus. “You’re the one who said we need to be nicer to each other.”

“I got the impression that was directed towards Luther, not the other way around,” Five says dryly. His brothers both jump in surprise. 

“Fivey!” Klaus exclaims, turning fully around in his seat to rest his chin on the headrest. He frowns at the empty seat next to Five. “I thought you were sitting with Vanya.”

Five scoffs. “No, she’s sitting with Allison.” He gestures ahead of them, where Vanya and Allison are half-asleep.

“Wait,” Ben says, smile beginning to widen in glee. “Does that mean..?” As one, he and Klaus turn forwards to search out Luther and Diego. 

“They are!” Klaus nearly shouts, bouncing in his seat. 

Five shushes him, far too tired and caffeine-deprived for loud noises, but Klaus ignores him. As always.

“Remember the last time?” Ben says, turning and grabbing Klaus’s arm. 

Klaus grins. “On the train!”

“And then they—!”

“Yeah, and Dad—”

“Yes!” Ben exclaims, both boys bursting into laughter. Klaus practically falls over his brother’s lap with excitement. 

Five watches the whole scene with vague bemusement, only daring to speak once they calmed down. “Do I even want to know what you’re talking about?”

“They—” Klaus bursts into giggles even trying to explain, so Ben takes over.

“We were taking a train to some outing  _ years  _ ago, right? And Luther and Diego had to sit next to each other for some reason.”

“Dad was making us sit in number order,” Klaus interjects. 

Ben swats at him and continues. “They argued so much that Dad threatened to leave them there.”

“That stopped them for a while. I mean, you know Luther and Dad.” Klaus grips the back of his seat in anticipation.

“Then they started a slap fight!” Ben announces, grinning and gesturing with his hands. “A full on slap fight.”

“Like little kids!” Klaus cackles. “Dad was so pissed.”

“He couldn’t do anything in public, but when we got home.” Ben pauses to laugh. “When we got home—”

“He put them in the corner!” Klaus says. “He said if they were acting like children, he would punish them like children.”

Five snorts, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth.

“It’s the only time I have ever seen Dad be so mad at Luther,” Ben says thoughtfully. “If it helps, we were seventeen at the time.”

“Seventeen?” Five says incredulously. “Wow, you guys didn’t do much growing up while I was gone, did you?”

Klaus pauses for a moment, face darkening before he forces a smile. He scoffs. “As if we were gonna grow up without you. It’s all for one, one for all in this household, thank you very much.” 

He looks down at his hands as if mulling over his options, then announces. “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when we get there, will you, Ben?”

Ben nods, sending Klaus a concerned glance. Klaus ignores him (as always) and leans his head against the window. 

Five turns back to the notebook in his lap, chewing on his pen. He’s halfway through the rough sketch of another probability map when Ben taps his shoulder. Five looks up, half pulling his pen out of his mouth. “What.”

“You know we missed you, right, Five?” Ben says, sincerity shining in his eyes. Five forgets how nice Ben can be, especially with how much time he spends with Klaus.

“I know that,” Five answers, avoiding Ben’s gaze and closing his notebook. “I know.”

“Klaus kept trying to summon you,” Ben says, still annoyingly kind. He sends a quick glance into the aisle of the bus, then stands up, moving to sit next to Five. 

Five hurriedly pulls his backpack into his lap to make room. “He did?”

“Yeah,” Ben replies. “Probably around once a month until I died.” Five can’t contain his flinch at the reminder, but Ben just powers through. “After that, I think he figured you were either alive, or you just didn’t want to see him.”

“I—”

“I mean, obviously, neither are true,” Ben continues. “And you’re here now, which is what matters. But we did miss you.”

Five stares at his brother, completely taken aback. He feels an ache he didn’t know existed fade away. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Ben says, sending him a friendly smile and moving back to his previous seat. Once there, he shakes Klaus awake to show him something on their bus schedule. 

~~~~~~~~

They pile off the bus on a backstreet near the boardwalk. Klaus is practically bouncing in place and the rest of them aren’t much better. Only Five tries to maintain his composure, though even he gives up when Ben slings an arm around his neck and grins. 

Down the street, they can see the telltale emptiness of a large body of water, and the air smells of salt. Ahead, a seagull is fishing fries out of a dumpster. 

Luther starts. “So, I was thinking we could, uh—”

“Let’s go, bitches!” Klaus shouts, beginning to run down the street. Ben snorts in disbelief and begins chasing after him, dragging Five along with them.

Five lets out a startled shout but ultimately lets his brother pull him along. Diego follows suit, seemingly just to defy Luther. That’s thrown out the window when Luther also begins to run, apparently having given up on keeping order.

Allison and Vanya stare after their idiot brothers in exasperation. 

“We probably shouldn’t encourage them,” Allison says hesitantly, sending a glance at Vanya. “Right?”

Vanya bites her lip. “Yeah…” She sends Allison a challenging look. Allison looks right back. 

Both girls laugh and take off running after their brothers. It’s beach day, after all. 


End file.
